We here study the occurrence rate,probability function of velocity and duration of earthward bursty bulk flows(BBFs) in the Inner Plasma Sheet(IPS,β>0.5) using the data of Cluster in 2001 and 2002.The occurrence rate of earthward BBFs increases with distance from the Earth up to ?19 RE,which is in agreement with the previous observations of the radial evolution of BBFs.About 54% of earthward BBFs in expansion phase have a velocity larger than 600 km/s,whereas only 38% of earthward BBFs in growth and recovery phases have a velocity larger than 600 km/s.The average velocity of earthward BBFs in expansion phase is 732 km/s,larger than those in growth phase(631 km/s) and recovery phase(617 km/s).The durations of earthward BBFs decrease with the decrease of downtail distance from Earth due to the braking of earthward BBFs.The duration of earthward BBFs in expansion phase is larger than that in growth and recovery phases.The average durations in growth,expansion,and recovery phases are respectively 49.3,71.5,and 47.6 s.Therefore,the ratios of transports of energy of earthward BBFs in growth,expansion,and recovery phases can be estimated to be 0.51:1:0.47.Thus,the earthward BBFs in the expansion phase have the largest capability of the transport of energy and can produce the largest braking effects,such as inertial currents and auroral activities.
Using the data of LFEW/TC-2, we studied the dawn side chorus around substorm onsets during a strong geomagnetic storm in November 2004. During this storm, LFEW/TC-2 observed 14 dawnside chorus events. Nine of them were associated with substorms and occurred within 40 min around the substorm onsets. The fre-quencies of waves have a very good correlation with the half equatorial electron cyclotron frequencies. Chorus can be excited in the region near magnetic equato-rial plane and then propagate to the mid and high latitudes. When the wave fre-quencies reach the local lower hybrid frequencies, chorus can be reflected due to the lower hybrid resonance. The time delay between the chorus and its echo is about 28 min. Previous observations show that the chorus can propagate at most to the magnetic latitudes of 40°. LFEW/ TC-2 found for the first time that the chorus in space could propagate to the magnetic latitude of 70°. Since most of the previous chorus observations are made close to the magnetic equatorial plane, our results are important for the studies of excitation and propagation of whistler mode wave, and relevant relativistic electron acceleration in the magnetosphere.
YANG JunYingCAO JinBinYAN ChunXiaoLI LiuYuanMA YuDuan
